Dr John Imrie

Dr John Imrie is Director: Health Programmes at Wits RHI. He holds a Bachelor degree with Honours in Politics from Mount Allison University (Canada), an MA in South African Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (London), a Postgraduate Diploma and MSc in Health Promotion and Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a PhD in HIV Prevention from University College London.

He is a senior public health implementation specialist and researcher with more than 30 years international experience across Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and the South Pacific. His research work has focused on sexual health, HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care, health promotion science and health systems strengthening, with a strong emphasis on Key Populations, people living with, as well as people ageing with HIV, as well as young men, adolescents and in-school and out-of-school youth.

Dr Imrie is the Principal Investigator of Wits RHI’s PEPFAR-funded Operation Gophelega, a CDC-supported District Support Partnership implemented across the Tshwane and Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng, South Africa. His work has contributed to strengthening HIV prevention and treatment service delivery at scale through integrated district-level health system approaches. His current work also includes developing a portfolio focused on ageing populations and strengthening lifelong HIV treatment support within the South African context, reflecting an expanding focus on long-term care and health system sustainability. He is also Principal Investigator on evaluation research studies assessing tailored health service packages for Key Populations within integrated primary care services.